Apparatus for presenting images to viewers are well known and include televisions and computer monitors. Televisions are contemporarily implemented using cathode ray tubes, liquid crystal displays employing pixel arrays, plasma displays, light emitting diode (LED) displays to mention a few contemporary examples. For televisions, there is a growing desire for relatively broad screens to accommodate high-definition television (HDTV) program content. However, relatively large displays for televisions are costly to manufacture and tend also to be bulky, especially when implemented using cathode ray tube technologies. It has been appreciated that it is not necessary to increase both screen resolution and display size in order to provide viewers with an enhanced viewing experience because viewers are less able to distinguish fine detail at a perimeter of their field of vision in comparison to a central region thereof. Thus, an enhanced visual experience for viewers can be provided by employing surround-lighting wherein a surrounding halo of illumination dynamically complementary to images presented on a monitor is provided around the monitor.
Such surround-lighting can be provided by way of light-sources 10 arranged around a monitor 20 as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, or by backward illumination 30 for illuminating a region 40 behind the monitor 20 relative to a viewer 50 as schematically illustrated in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the backward illumination 30 is optionally directed to provide a halo of illumination 60 around the monitor 20 when viewed by the viewer 50 as depicted in FIG. 3. Whereas use of the light-sources 10 arranged around the monitor 20 increases an overall physical size and hence bulk of an overall housing for the monitor 20, backward illumination can be implemented without increasing monitor size significantly. However, the use of the backward illumination 30 for generating the surround-lighting, namely halo of illumination 60, requires a light-reflecting surface to be placed behind the monitor 20, the reflecting surface corresponding to the aforementioned region 40. The surface can be beneficially implemented as white reflecting panels attached to the monitor 20, for example rotatably-mounted fold-out panels or attachable panels, or more simply by mounting or positioning the monitor 20 in close proximity to an existing wall or similar existing surface. However, such existing surfaces can be of unpredictable color depending upon where the viewer chooses to place the monitor 20, such unpredictable color potentially affecting the color and quality of the surround-lighting 60 achieved by this backward illumination 30 which represents a technical problem addressed by the present invention. Moreover, environmental illumination around the monitor 20, such environmental illumination arising from room lighting and/or sunlight, can affect the quality of the surround-lighting 60 as perceived by the viewer 50. A conventional solution is simply to require that the monitor 20 be mounted in proximity to a white surface or provide the monitor 20 with deployable white surfaces for reflecting the backward-illumination 30 towards the viewer 50.
It is known to actively control color of images presented on a display implemented using a cathode ray tube. For example, in a published U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,228, there is described a device for automatically adjusting condition of images presented on the display. The device is operable to optimize the condition of images according to viewer preferences by taking into account the brightness and color temperature selected by the viewer for the display. In particular, the device includes a photosensor operable to sense environmental illumination and generating a corresponding signal indicative of the environmental illumination. The processor is operable to use the signal and user settings for controlling operation of the display, thereby optimizing operation of the display in response to changes in environmental illumination.